The modular power system was dedicated with a ribbon-cutting ceremony Dec. 3 by officials from UT and GEM Energy of Walbridge which designed and installed it.

The innovative system that is only the second of its kind in the nation and first in Ohio will significantly reduce UT’s carbon footprint and increase its electric reliability, according to sources at GEM and UT.

“This project is the result of a truly remarkable collaboration with the University of Toledo,” said Hussein Shousher, president of GEM Inc.

“It exemplifies the collaboration to make this kind of perfect project work as the University of Toledo strives to advance alternative energy research and commercialization. It puts us on the map as a global university,” said Dr. Lloyd Jacobs, president of UT.

The gas turbine-based power system installed is generating high-quality electricity required to operate the data center that is equivalent to the electrical needs of 52 homes and to removing 287 automobiles from the nation’s highways, said Hussein.

The modular power system consists of four Capstone hybrid micro turbines, a Thermax USA exhaust fired chilled water module with hot water output, special environmental systems for hot and cold climate operation, and an external battery for 10 minutes of electricity.

“It can recover energy that comes off the turbines in direct exhaust stream into the absorption chiller that is used to cool the data center and produce hot water to heat the pool in the (nearby) recreation center, said David Blair, senior vice present at GEM Energy.

The micro-turbine based system eliminates the need for an emergency generator because it is powered by Ohio natural gas rather than electricity for enormous energy savings, according to Blair.

“We need to burn fossil fuels as efficiently as possible using all forms of energy technology. With the support of the State of Ohio and our key partner, Capstone Turbine Corporation, GEM Energy is proud to build such progressive energy-saving projects in Northwest Ohio,” Shousher said.

The ReliaFlex modular power system was designed and assembled at GEM’s shop, transported to UT’s main campus on a large flatbed trailer and installed at the data center. The project took approximately two years from concept through completion, Blair said.

All components of the integrated power system are contained in a pre-engineered package that can be shipped anywhere and connected to existing infrastructure, Blair explained.

GEM developed and commercialized the ReliaFlex system using a $1 million loan from the Ohio Third Frontier program. The company designed and implemented the power system at Syracuse University’s Data Center in conjunction with IBM in 2010.

“Ohio is investing in technology while creating jobs. This collaboration makes us a leader in advanced energy and Toledo a destination for innovation, research and commercialization,” David Goodman, director of the Ohio Development Services Agency and chair of the Ohio Third Frontier Commission, stated in a press release about the green data center project at UT.

Ohio Third Frontier provides funding to technology-based companies, universities, nonprofit research institutions and other organizations to create new products, companies, industries and jobs.

GEM Energy, one of the Rudolph/Libbe Companies, provides comprehensive energy services and technology to increase the efficiency and reduce the operating costs for commercial, industrial, institutional and mission critical facilities.

Grypshon team wins Startup Weekend Toledo

The Grypshon team won first place in the Startup Weekend Toledo competition. The competition took place from Sept. 20-22 at the Nitschke Technology Commercialization Complex on the College of Engineering campus at the University of Toledo.

The Grypshon team of Tom Burden, Patricia Law and Kathy Worthy won the startup competition with the only physical product among the seven finalists. The team developed a proposed business around friction mats designed for use in the maintenance of military and commercial aircraft.

The idea was the brainchild of Burden, a staff sergeant in the U.S. Air Force, who works on jet aircraft at the 180th Fighter Wing of the Ohio Air National Guard base at Toledo Express Airport. The Celina, Ohio, native is also a mechanical engineering technology student at UT.

Grypshon is the name chosen for the product Burden demonstrated during the team’s presentation to the judges in the final round of the competition. The friction mat is designed to provide a safer work environment for airmen who must stand on jets to perform maintenance and service.

Law, a mechanical engineer, and Worthy, a medical sales representative, joined Burden to comprise one of the smallest teams in the competition. They had never even met Burden prior to the competition, but said they were extremely impressed with his idea.

While the judges met in seclusion to select the winners, Burden and his team had an opportunity to meet with Don Wedding, a local patent attorney and professor in the College of Business and Innovation at UT, to discuss the patent process.

Next step

As the winning team, Grypshon will receive a “two-hour IP brainstorming session” and two-month part-time membership to Seed Co-working space Downtown in addition to other prizes for individual members.

Burden said the next step for the startup will be to concentrate on obtaining patents on the product and try to sell it at trade shows hosted by the U.S. Department of Defense.

Tom’s parents, Tom and Sally Burden, who came from Celina for the final presentations on Sept. 22, said they were very proud of their son and his invention.

Startbox, a business designed to help people complete craft projects, finished second in the competition. Cloud Control, a source for storing files at multiple locations from a single point of access, placed third.

Other finalists

The other seven finalists included CRUMS, a site for keeping track of independent phone and webcam service; Music Minion, an app for listeners to connect with their favorite music; Soundarific, a website where people can share their talent anonymously; and Writing Along, providing a safe environment for youth to learn through creative writing.

Prior to the final presentations, Joe Gough, an entrepreneur in residence for Rocket Ventures, offered the participants some advice on how to pitch their ideas, products and companies. He told them that investors invest in people more than ideas and that they shouldn’t be afraid to ask for advice and referrals.

The panel of judges included Henry Balanon, entrepreneur and co-founder of Protean; Anneliese Grytafey, attorney and senior program officer for the Toledo Community Foundation; Gene Powell, president of Spoke design and digital marketing agency in Toledo; Vijay Raghavendra, strategy and corporate business development executive for IBM; and Steve Schwartz, entrepreneur involved in three startup firms including Alfa Jango Software.

Startup Weekend Toledo began with 90-minute presentations on 25 original ideas for companies and products. The teams worked on development of the individual ideas during the 54-hour event.

The competition was narrowed down to 10 semifinalists and then seven finalists during the weekend, said Lindsey Danforth, lead organizer for the event.

It is the second year for the Startup Weekend competition in Toledo, according to Danforth, who said they had about the same number of participants as last year.

Libertarian Perspective: Captive society

These names are familiar to all Northwest Ohioans: Victoria’s Secret, JCPenney, Target, AT&T, Microsoft, IBM — I could list many more. These names will be foreign to most Northwest Ohioans: Toledo Correctional Institution, Corrections Center of Northwest Ohio and Lucas County Corrections Center. The names may be unfamiliar, but it is likely you know someone who has spent at least a short while in one of these institutions, or, as we call them, jails or prisons. That is because the United States has the largest number of people incarcerated or under some form of judicial control in the world. That is not per capita, but in raw numbers of people. We imprison more of our citizens than China, a country with four times our population and a reputation for being repressive. We imprison more of our countrymen than Iran or Russia.

This hasn’t always been so. In fact, our incarceration rates were generally steady for decades and violent crimes have, even in recent times, declined overall. The rate of in incarceration began to pick up in the early 1970s. From that time, it has climbed dramatically. In 1970, there were 3,384 nonviolent drug offenders in federal prison and 17,302 violent criminals. In 2005 the number of violent offenders had increased by 294 percent but the nonviolent drug offenders rate had increased by 2,558 percent [numbers provided by Law Enforcement Against Prohibition (LEAP)].

LEAP is probably also unfamiliar. It is comprised of more than 1,000 police, judges, prosecutors, prison wardens more than 70,000 civilian supporters in 119 countries. They are spread over the globe because America’s drug prohibitions have spread violence and death to many nations. In Mexico, it has cost tens of thousands of lives in recent years, many of them innocent. At home, the cost has been no less in lives destroyed and money wasted.

Ever since President Richard Nixon declared the War on Drugs, we have made more than 46 million arrests and spent more than $1.5 trillion. What have we accomplished with all this capital spent and these lives destroyed? Have crimes been reduced by all the drug-related arrests? Have drug use and addiction rates gone down? What about overdoses? We all know the answer is no. In fact, in 1914, when the first U.S. drug law was introduced, the government stated our addiction rate was at 1.3 percent of the population. In 2012, after all we have done, they say our addiction rate is still at

1.3 percent of the population.

But elsewhere they have abandoned our criminal approach to a health and education problem. In Portugal, in 2001, they decriminalized all drugs. Contrary to the prohibitionists’ beliefs, the country did not become a drug user’s haven; their society did not fall apart. In fact, drug use overall declined by 25 percent and treatment sought increased 300 percent. All because they weren’t spending money to arrest, convict and warehouse people with health issues, and users were not afraid of arrest if they sought help.

Our prohibition has not been enforced uniformly. Studies don’t show that black males use drugs at a higher rate than white males. Yet the arrest, conviction and incarceration rates of minority males are many times higher than those for whites.

We have effectively destroyed the family in our urban areas as these men get hung with nonviolent felony convictions and can no longer get education access or decent jobs. Oh, remember that list of companies I began with? They are willing to employ these prisoners for practically nothing.

Because you are already deeply involved in our culture of incarceration, and because I can only scratch the surface here, I ask that you keep some time free to join some of your fellow citizens, along with special invited guests, for a week of varied programs on this subject. It will be in the first full week of April under the banner Toledoans for Prison Awareness.

For more information, visit http://toledoprisonawarenessgroup.org and watch these pages. This is a community problem that spans all political and religious ideologies. It requires we all work together.

Altvater: Did IBM force Augusta National to admit women as members?

Most of us will never know the feeling of being asked to be a member of Augusta National Golf Club. It’s a difficult process just obtaining a ticket to attend the Masters each year.

Condoleezza Rice and Darla Moore are accomplished women, and the world learned of their admission to Augusta National as the club’s first female members on Monday.

Augusta National broke from its 80-year tradition of inviting men only to become members of the club that annually hosts the Masters.

Membership to Augusta National is a private matter. Members at the club rarely address the media or discuss club business or procedures.

Women’s activist Martha Burk campaigned for admission of women to the elite club beginning in 2003. Hootie Johnson, who was the club’s chairman at the time, explained that the club would not bow to pressure and admit women as members. They would follow normal policy and procedure.

Augusta National has a longstanding policy of granting membership to the president or chief operating officer of companies that become sponsors of the Masters.

In October 2011, IBM installed Virginia Rometty as president and chief executive officer. Questions were asked if Augusta National would honor its policy of granting membership to Ms. Rometty?

With no female members, Augusta National found itself digging a deeper hole for itself over the question of whether to allow women members.

Do you think there were discussions about the admission of Rometty as a member versus losing IBM’s sponsorship?

IBM likely had more influence on the admission of women as members at Augusta National than Martha Burk or public outcry could ever hope to have.

Augusta National Chairman Billy Payne explained that membership to the club is a deliberate procedure. A candidate is mentioned among the members and that person goes through a five- or six-year process to determine suitability prior to being officially asked to become a member.

Condoleezza Rice and Darla Moore may have been discussed as possible members for several years among the membership at Augusta National but it seems that their official invitations may have been hastened by the predicament the club found itself in with no women members and a new woman president of one of its sponsoring companies.

As most things in this world, the decision to admit Rice and Moore as members to Augusta National was driven more by a monetary consideration than a moral obligation to correct a sexual inequality issue among the membership.

For whatever reason Augusta National decided to admit women members, it is a momentous occasion and should be applauded.

The last bastion of male dominance in the golf world now becomes the Royal & Ancient.

Has Augusta National forced the door open for the R&A to add women to its illustrious membership?

“These accomplished women share our passion for the game of golf, and both are well known and respected by our membership. It will be a proud moment when we present Condoleezza and Darla their green jackets when the club opens this fall.”

— Augusta National chairman Billy Payne after Augusta National invited former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and South Carolina financier Darla Moore to become the first female members since the club was founded in 1932.